The recently opened Dolby Atmos-certified Shiny Eyes Studio in the San Francisco East Bay, headed by founder Leonard Bertolami and designed by Alex Otto of Otto System Works, has an interconnect infrastructure utilizing a variety of Sommer Cable joined by a Rupert Neve Designs 5088 console, PMC monitors, multiple isolation booths, and a range of microphones, audio interfaces, DAWs and musical instruments.
“I have learned from the knowledge and expertise of Alex and his OSW team to choose which products to use,” says Bertolami. “To that end, Sommer cabling throughout was chosen for its incredible sonic qualities. I had the pleasure of pulling the Sommer’s special SC-Elephant Robust SPM840 cables and for the robust size they were much easier to manipulate than I expected. The feel and coiling ease of the cables is exceptional and actually handling the cabling reinforced my feelings of quality.”
The studio’s name was inspired by the conductor Benjamin Zander, musical director of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra. In a talk on the transformative power of classical music, Zander tells the story of realizing that his role as a conductor was to awaken possibility in other people. He could tell if he was succeeding by looking in their eyes.
Otto explains, “Sommer’s SC-Mistral cable was chosen for all the panels, racks, consoles, and loudspeakers in all the line level duties, both analog and digital. The main factor is, of course, sound quality. Sommer cable sounds extraordinary and is incredibly quiet. When it’s used to wire an entire facility following established best practices, Sommer-equipped studios are dead quiet.”
Shiny Eyes has a team of in-house engineers available to guide digital and analog projects, including tracking, mixing, recording and mastering as well as planning and equipment set up.
Otto continues, “Another advantage here is that the Sommer multipair cable is AES/EBU rated at 110-Ohm. During installation the cable is landed to my preferred Bittree patchbays, which are also internally wired with 110-Ohm cable. There is no impedance change as the cable is distributed throughout the entire studio, including mic panels, patchbays and TT patch cords. I only need one cable type to deal with both analog and digital signals, which from the client’s standpoint means better value as the business changes — you won’t have to face huge costs associated with any upgrading or changes in wiring.
“When designing Atmos systems and working with loudspeakers that have digital AES/EBU inputs, Sommer cable works perfectly to integrate both analog and digital signals. It’s the ‘chameleon’ of multipair cables. Another great advantage is the supple workability of the Sommer cable. The 8-pair fits nicely into the Sommer provided DB-25 connectors and shells. It’s easy to identify individual channels and although we always cover individual channels with techflex and individual numbers, you could simply use the cable without this additional dressing. Most other 8-pair cables need additional protection and dressing and if you don’t wrap the individual channels the moment you pick them up, they get tangled and difficult to manage.”
Sommer Cable components used at the facility includes SC-Elephant Robust SPM840; SC-Meridian Mobile SP240; SC-Mistral MCF0; SC-Galileo 238; and Tricone XXL intrument patch points.
